Bios

Toby Mendel, Executive Director

Prior to founding the Centre for Law and Democracy in January 2010, Toby Mendel was for over 12 years Senior Director for Law at ARTICLE 19, a human rights NGO focusing on freedom of expression and the right to information. He has provided expertise on these rights to a wide range of actors including the World Bank, various UN and other intergovernmental bodies, and numerous governments and NGOs in countries all over the world. In these various roles, he has often played a leading role in drafting legislation in the areas of the right to information and media regulation. Before joining ARTICLE 19, he worked as a senior human rights consultant with Oxfam Canada and as a human rights policy analyst at the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA). He has published extensively on a range of freedom of expression, right to information, communication rights and refugee issues, including comparative legal and analytical studies on public service broadcasting, the right to information and broadcast policy. Toby has an Honours B.A. in mathematics from McGill University and an L.L.B. from Dalhousie University.

Lee Cohen, Board Member, Secretary

Lee Cohen is a practising lawyer in Halifax, Nova Scotia. He graduated from the University of New Brunswick with a B.Ed. in 1977 and from Dalhousie University Law School in 1980. He was granted his Q.C. in 2002. Lee’s practice is dedicated entirely to immigration, refugees and human rights. He established the Halifax Refugee Clinic, a non-profit, pro bono clinic that provides legal and settlement services for people claiming refugee status in Nova Scotia or requiring humanitarian immigration services, where he currently serves as Chair of the Board and as a volunteer counsel. Lee is a well-known authority on immigration, refugee and discrimination issues. He is a recipient of the Nova Scotia Human Rights Award, the Queen’s Jubilee Medal, the Democracy 250 award, and the Weldon Award from the Dalhousie Law School Alumni Association for unselfish public service. A believer in peaceful resolutions to complex issues, Mr. Cohen challenges listeners to take personal responsibility to confront injustice and bring social and legal change to our communities.

Alex Neve, Board Member

Alex Neve believes in a world in which the human rights of all people are protected. He has served as Secretary General of Amnesty International Canada since 2000. In that role he has carried out numerous human rights research missions throughout Africa and Latin America as well as within Canada. He speaks to audiences across the country about a wide range of human rights issues, appears regularly before parliamentary committees and is a frequent commentator in the media. Alex is a lawyer, with a Masters Degree in International Human Rights Law from the University of Essex. He has served as a member of the Immigration and Refugee Board, taught at Osgoode Hall Law School, been affiliated with York University’s Centre for Refugee Studies, and worked as a refugee lawyer in private practice and in a community legal aid clinic. Alex has been named an Officer of the Order of Canada and has received an honorary Doctorate of Laws degree from the University of New Brunswick.

Dawn Russell, Board Member

Professor Russell practised law in Halifax for five years with the leading Atlantic law firm of Stewart McKelvey Stirling Scales before beginning her career as a law teacher in 1987. She has taught in the areas of International Law, Law of the Sea and Ocean Law and Policy. Her writings have focused on international and comparative oceans law and policy, particularly on topics such as domestic fisheries management, the role of international fisheries organizations, high seas fishing of straddling stocks, and maritime boundary delimitation. Professor Russell is on the Editorial Advisory Board of International Insights and of the Ocean Yearbook. She is a member of the Executive Board of the Canadian Council on International Law and of the Board of Directors of the Canadian Institute of Resources Law. She was Dean of Dalhousie Law School from 1996 to 2005 and Co-Chair of the Nova Scotia Law Reform Commission from 1995-2002.

Michael Karanicolas, Legal Officer

Michael Karanicolas has been with CLD since Spring 2010. An internationally published writer and photographer, Michael takes a personal interest in issues of free speech and journalists’ rights. Michael has a BAH (Dean’s List) from Queen’s University, and an LLB from the Schulich School of Law at Dalhousie University, where he was awarded the McInnes Cooper Internet and Media Law Prize and the Professor Ronald St. John Macdonald Prize for International Law. Michael’s main focus is on digital rights and freedom of expression online, including authoring publications on access to the Internet as a human rights, copyright reform and standards for digital surveillance. Michael also played a central role in developing and applying CLD’s Right to Information Rating Methodology, and has been involved in CLD projects in Canada, Indonesia, Lebanon, Myanmar and the Maldives.

Chris Zulinov, Website Designer

Chris Zulinov designed and maintains the CLD website. He was born and raised in a small town near Guelph, Ontario. He developed a passion for technology, photography and equality in his youth, all of which still drives his work today. Leaving the farm town he headed to McMaster University, where he graduated with an Honours BA in Communication and Multi Media. After spending a year in Geneva, working for a small NGO as their Webmaster and Communications assistant, he is currently continuing his studies at the University of Edinburgh.